Here are some fun facts about the loveable character and wookiees from the Star Wars website:

1) Chewbacca’s well-known voice was made up of various pieces from a collection of animal sound recordings like bears, badgers and lions.

2) Mayhew was told not to wander the area in costume. There was concern he would be mistaken as Bigfoot by hunters and get injured.

3) Mayhew studied a monkey family to see how they interacted with each other to help with his portrayal of Chewbacca.

4) In the Season Three finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Chewbacca joined the animated cast. Supervising director Dave Filoni and his team brought in Mayhew to help portray the character in animation.

5) The concept of Chewbacca as Han Solo’s co-pilot came about after people mistook George Lucas’s Alaskan Malamute as a human riding in the front passenger seat of his car. However, the character was influenced by multiple animals like monkeys, lemurs and cats as well.

6) Wookiees have three different languages, all made up of the familiar howls and growls. Chewbacca speaks a dialect called Shyriiwook.

7) Wookiees can be Jedi, like the wookiee padawan Gungi from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.